LCQ8: Establishment of Traffic Wardens
**************************************
Question:
Regarding the establishment of and the manpower deployment for Traffic Wardens, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the establishment of Traffic Wardens in various police districts across the territory, as well as the mechanism and criteria adopted for formulating such establishment;
(2) of the reasons why it has not set up a mechanism for reviewing the establishment of and manpower deployment for Traffic Wardens;
(3) whether it received in the past five years any request from members of the local communities and District Councils for deploying additional Traffic Wardens to carry out duties in their districts; if so, of the respective reasons for accepting and rejecting such requests;
(4) how the pay scales of the two ranks of Traffic Wardens as well as the time and costs involved in the induction training for Traffic Wardens at present compare with those of police officers; and
(5) in which years of the past decade the authorities increased or reduced the manpower of Traffic Wardens, and the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the various parts of the Hon Hui Chi-fung's question is as follows:
(1) The establishment of Traffic Wardens in various police districts across the territory is set out at Annex 1.
Traffic Wardens are responsible for the enforcement duties under the Fixed Penalty (Traffic Contraventions) Ordinance (Cap. 237) and the Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance (Cap. 611), as well as managing and directing vehicles and pedestrians. Apart from relying on Traffic Wardens for parking-related enforcement duties, police officers in the police districts also take enforcement actions concerning parking and road traffic offences.
The Hong Kong Police Force (the Police) will consider various factors, including the overall manpower distribution of frontline enforcement staff and resources deployment in individual police districts, as well as traffic conditions in the districts (such as the number of on-street metered parking spaces), and deploy manpower as appropriate to meet actual operational needs.
(2) There is an established mechanism for the Government to review and determine the manpower resources for all departments. The Police have always conducted timely reviews of the establishment and resources for frontline enforcement staff based on operational needs. Where warranted, resources will be redeployed internally or additional resources will be sought to cope with traffic enforcement duties. The Police created a total of eight Traffic Warden posts in 2017 and 2018 and will create another 49 Traffic Warden posts in the 2018-19 financial year.
(3) In the past five years, the Police have received requests from District Council members and the public, etc. for deploying additional Traffic Wardens to carry out duties in certain districts. The Police have not retained comprehensive records relating to such requests and are therefore unable to provide the reasons for accepting or rejecting these requests. When the Police deploy Traffic Wardens for enforcement duties, they have to take into consideration various factors, including the overall manpower distribution of frontline officers and resource deployment in individual police districts, as well as the traffic conditions in the districts (such as the number of on-street metered parking spaces), and deploy manpower as appropriate to meet actual operational needs.
(4) The job nature and job requirements of Traffic Wardens and police officers differ, and that Traffic Wardens are civilian staff, not disciplinary staff. It would be difficult to compare these two grades of officers.
The monthly salary of Traffic Wardens ranges from Master Pay Scale (MPS) point 6 ($17,855) to point 12 ($25,790). For Senior Traffic Wardens, their monthly salary ranges from MPS point 13 ($27,340) to point 16 ($31,685). Newly recruited Traffic Wardens are required to undergo a four-week induction training, which aims to ensure that they have a firm grasp of the professional knowledge, skills and attitude necessary for discharging their duties.
(5) In the past decade, the Police have created 77 Traffic Warden posts to meet operational needs. Details can be found at Annex 2.
Ends/Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Issued at HKT 15:45
Issued at HKT 15:45
NNNN